New York Comic Con: Day 1! SERIOUS WIN.

GUYS. THAT WAS AWESOME.

SO FUCKING SWEET.

DUDE.

I thought, like, that it was going to be really weird and stressful and disappointing? AND IT WAS SO AWESOME.

Because, you see. . . Katie ran into Sho. And then we stalked him. Not in NYC, that would have been incredible, but at the Con. He was supposed to do a thing for the fans at 2:45 by his booth, but it turns out, before that - filming the Con for News Zero. Katie (my twin sister) found him at 2, I showed up at 2:20, and we followed him til 2:35 or so. Just, like. A couple feet away from him. He was RIGHT THERE. BEING SHO.

We were sort of trying to be subtle, so we would look at whatever part of the Con they were filming at. This involved a lot of moving around and apparently we were in front of the camera a lot. Katie probably has a good chance of being on News Zero if they use any of this footage! I might be too! XD I will be watching the backgrounds very carefully. At one point, I turned around and I was right next to him. I was like "oh, I almost bumped into a guy in a suit - !!!!" ayamachi was more aware of where they were filming and avoided being on camera. XD

Which was also my reaction when I first saw him, "there's a guy in a suit. . ." Then I was like "SHIT THAT'S SHO. HE'S A REAL PERSON. RIGHT OVER THERE. RIIIIIIGHT THERE." He's so, so, so cute!! I found him even better-looking in person. Tinier, though! Maybe it was just being surrounded by Americans. He looked quite skinny, though. And tan. And with fluffy hair. And just adorable!! And hot!! Really good-looking. The theory Katie and I came up with is that on TV, we expect people to be gorgeous, so there's kind of a higher standard? But in real life, people are not supposed to be that attractive!! (except for my friend Stefan) So he looks even better. Really, incredibly cute and also totally hot.

Speaking of the fluffy hair! Before I got there, Katie got to see them fixing Sho up during the filming. XD I repeat: so cute! Not a lot, but they fluffed his hair up (it does take maintenance, apparently!) and touched up his make-up. . . just a tiny bit. XDDDD

He was so goddamn cute. And he was conducting the interviews so seriously, and looking really calm, and amused, and interested. Calm - composed? Katie says he seemed to be somewhat in control, as well - he'd be interested in something, so they'd go over and film it and check it out. Rather than him being managed the whole time. And they'd stop people in costumes. She heard him ask people in English "Who are you dressed as?" I didn't get to hear any English, which is disappointing. One person is more stalking-efficient. She said he would say a couple things to each person in English, at the beginning of the interviews, but then there was also a translator. I think Katie got closest to an interview with a crazy manga fan who didn't know who he was and was really overwhelmed. Partly by the translator, who was apparently quite cute trying to lean in as much as possible and still stay out of the frame. :D Little job skills that we don't notice. Katie said Sho was very good at looking at the person he was interviewing even if it was done through the translator. She also got the impression that he had to think really hard about his English. I'd imagine it's because he learned it well but doesn't get to use it enough to keep it fresh and on the tip of his tongue. It's an effort. I'd imagine he could understand a fair amount of what the people were saying, though, especially if they spoke carefully - understanding is easier than speaking.

So yeah, it seemed that most of the fans didn't realize this was occurring? So there wasn't a huge crowd following them. Just a tiny crowd. And most of them were with News Zero. XD [ames_909 tells me that everyone was waiting in line for tickets at that point. That explains. I'm really glad I didn't want to go to the showing - I predicted that it would just be stressful trying to get tickets, and I didn't want to be running around anyway. I'd made dinner plans, too.]

EDIT: I thought we didn't have any pictures but it turns out ayamachi owns me and totally took one! BEHOLD THE PROXIMITY. Obviously it's phone quality, but it's definitely one of the most clear pictures I've seen, and definitely DEFINITELY one of the most up-close ones. You can see in the foreground the reason there weren't more: the huge bodyguard. XD

( my take on the booth appearance thing - memories hazy! )

Conclusion: Sho is a muffin and I adore him.

I had no interest in going to the premiere, I don't even know how you were supposed to get tickets, so, yeah.

But I did have a FUCKING AWESOME time at the Con after we all dispersed. (We ran away as soon as it seemed like Sho was leaving so we could put some distance between ourselves and the crowds. If he did something amazing right at the end, I don't know about it.)

I'll put this behind a cut, since I guess less people are interested? I got to meet and talk to and get autographs from some really awesome people, though. So awesome!! Dude. AAAAAAAAH. It was just such a satisfying and positive experience.

( remember, I'm a huge comic book fan and was going to go to the con anyway. )

AAAAAAUGH EVERYONE IS CUTE AND AWESOME. And I saw and met and spoke to so many amazing people! And didn't make a complete fool of myself! I was shaking with excitement. XD Sho was amazing and exciting and, well. . . Katie and I realized - it was just doki doki! That's what it felt like, to be so close to him and see him in person. And surreal. And then to go up and speak to so many people that I really, really admire. Peter Mayhew was a bit of an opportunistic thing, although I do adore Star Wars and Chewie and think he's awesome. But Neal Adams really is one of my all-time favorite artists, Penny Arcade really is one of my all-time favorite webcomics, and Terry Moore really is one of my all-time favorite authors (and artists!!). So it was just incredible, and really overwhelming, to get to speak to all of them. Major, major bonus of the small size of the NYCC - people are more accessible and I'm less intimidated by lines, etc!! Normally I hate speaking to celebrities so it was even more "!!!!!!!!!!" than you might think, even. XD

I'm still reeling about the whole thing! :D :D :D SO AWESOME.